By staff
Title: Family Histories, 1916-2009
Predominant Dates:1933 --1945
ID: RG-16/RG-16
Primary Creator: Auslander, Sari
Other Creators: Blumenfeld, Helga, Cohen family, Cohen, Naile, Flagg, Edith (1919-), Gerard, Betti (1934-), Gumener family, Gumener, Sara, Jontoff-Hutter, Otto, Kubaschka family, Kubaschka, David, Posner family, Posner, Ralph, Posner, Sarah, Rapaport, Joseph (1922-), Talerant family, Webster, D.R.
Extent: 0.0
Arrangement:
The arrangement scheme for the record group was imposed during processing in the absence of an original order. Materials are arranged by family name/creator, then by identifier, as assigned by the processor.
Record group is comprised of ten collections: 1. Posner family follection; 2. Kubaschka family collection; 3. Vienna family history collection; 4. Cohen family papers; 5. Jontof-Hutter family collection; 6. Phillip Raucher collection; 7. Sari Auslander papers; 8. Leo Baeck Institute collection; 9. Gumener family collection; 10. Edith Flagg papers. RG-16.11, D. R. Webster Collection: Album of Budapest, 1944 – 1945. RG-16.12, Joseph Rapaport Collection
Subjects: Auslander, Sari, Blumenfeld, Helga, Cohen family, family histories, Flagg, Edith, Germany (Europe), Gumener family, Italian Fascism, Italy (Europe), Jewish experience, Italian, 1918 -- 1945, Jontof-Hutter family, Kubaschka family, Panenske Brezany (Czechoslovakia), Personal correspondence, Photographs, postwar, 1945 -- 1988, Photographs, pre-Second World War, Photographs, wartime, 1939 -- 1945, Poland (Europe), Posner family, Rapaport, Joseph, Raucher, Philip, Talerant family, Totalitarian regimes, Webster, D.R.
Languages: German, Italian, Czech, Dutch;Flemish, Polish, English
This record group through the materials of family histories embodies regional microhistories of prewar, wartime, and postwar period. For example, the Cohen family papers exemplifies the lesser-known facts of the relations between the Italian Fascist regime and the Jewish population in the early years of the Fascist regime. Overall, the families represented in this record group belonged to the Jewish middle class and were well-assimilated. Among the individual documents that stand out is a postcard written by Maria Altman in 1932. This postcard depicts the Castle in Panenske Brezany, Czechoslovakia. Once Reinhard Heidrich had been appointed the Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, this castle became one of his official residences.
Materials included in this record group are personal papers, correspondence, family albums, identification documents, testimonies, and official documents. A number of these documents are digitized.
Auslander, Sari
Blumenfeld, Helga
Cohen family
family histories
Flagg, Edith
Germany (Europe)
Gumener family
Italian Fascism
Italy (Europe)
Jewish experience, Italian, 1918 -- 1945
Jontof-Hutter family
Kubaschka family
Panenske Brezany (Czechoslovakia)
Personal correspondence
Photographs, postwar, 1945 -- 1988
Photographs, pre-Second World War
Photographs, wartime, 1939 -- 1945
Poland (Europe)
Posner family
Rapaport, Joseph
Raucher, Philip
Talerant family
Totalitarian regimes
Webster, D.R.
Repository: Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
Access Restrictions: No restrictions
Use Restrictions:
Copyrighted materials, credits to and references to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust are required
Digital copies might be available upon request
Preferred Citation: RG-16, Family Histories. Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust Archive.
Processing Information: Materials are primarily described using the local descriptive standards of the LA Museum of the Holocaust.
Philip (Pinkus) Raucher was born in Czeladz, Poland, in a small city in the southwestern part of Poland near Germany. His family included his parents, an older sister, and younger brother and a large extended family. Philip Raucher attended both a public school and a private religious school and participated in many sports growing up. He also joined the Polish Boy Scouts and had many non-Jewish friends. He was twelve when the war started, and the Raucher family put up several Jewish families who were deported from Germany across the border because of their Polish passports. During the war, he lived in the Czeladz ghetto and was eventually taken to the Markstadt concentration camp in Germany. From there he was taken to a concentration camp called Funfteichen, a branch of Gross Rosen. After the war, Raucher returned to Czeladz, where he found out his sister and uncle had been. He then found his uncle and sister in his uncle’s hometown and smuggled themselves into Czechoslovakia, then Austria, and into Munich in West Germany. Philip Raucher eventually moved to the United States, but his sister and her husband was unable to obtain an entry visa into the U.S. and instead moved to Brazil. After moving to the United States, Mr. Raucher immediately started adult education and then attended UCLA. He became a mechanical engineer specializing in air conditioning and married. He has a son, a daughter, and two granddaughters.
This collection includes the prewar family photographs and a document (a postcard) and several postwar documents (a Red Cross ID, ration card).
RG 16.06.01: Philip Raucher, Postcard (1932)
Dated: 25 August 1932
Language: German
A postcard sent from Brezany to Vienna.
RG 16.06.02: Philip Raucher, photograph of paternal grandfather, circa 1920
Dated: circa 1920
This photograph was taken in the 1920s of Philip’s paternal grandfather, who was born between 1856 and 1860 and went to Palestine when he was about 60 or 65 years old.
RG 16.06.03: Philip Raucher, family photograph, 1925
Dated: 1925
From left to right, this photograph taken in 1925 in Palestine shows the husband of Philip father’s sister; three cousins; an unknown person, and his father’s sister. Regina, the blonde-haired cousin on the left, corresponded with Philip shortly after World War II and was preparing to introduce Philip to his cousins in 1987, but she passed away when Philip arrived in Israel.
RG 16.06.04: Philip Raucher, family photograph printed in Munich, 1928
Dated: 1928
From left to right, this photograph taken in 1928 shows Philip’s mother, Sarah Lea Raucher, at 27 or 28 years old, born in 1900 in Wolbrom, Poland; Philip’s sister, Rachela Raucher, born in Czeladz, Poland, at 3 to 5 years old; Philip’s father’s female cousin; Philip Raucher himself, born in Czeladz, Poland in 1927; and Philip’s father, Israel Isser Raucher, at 30 or 31 years old, born in Wolbrom, Poland. Philip grew up in Czeladz, Poland with his immediate family. Philip’s father was a businessman, who owned a hardware store. Philip’s mother was a homemaker.
RG 16.06.05: Philip Raucher, group photograph at a city festival in Czeladz, Poland, 1931
Dated: 1931
From left to right, this photograph taken in 1931 shows Philip’s father’s cousin, Devorah; Philip’s sister, Rachela, at 8 years old; Philip’s brother Idel, at 1.5 years old; a female cousin of Philip’s father; a neighbor/employee of Philip Raucher’s father’s store; Philip Raucher at 4 or 5 years old; Philip’s mother, Sarah Lea, at 30 or 31 years old; and a daughter of a neighbor. This photograph was taken in Czeladz, Poland, at a city festival, which came to town once a year.
RG 16.06.06: Philip Raucher, family photograph, 1932
Dated: 1932
From left to right, this photograph taken in 1932 shows Golda, his father’s cousin; Philip’s sister, Rachela, at 8 years old; his father’s cousin, Devorah; Philip himself at 5 years old; and Philip’s brother Idel at 2 years old.
RG 16.06.07: Philip Raucher’s Uncle, Aron Raucher, President of a Zionist organization in Wolbrom, Poland, 1933
Dated: 1933
This photograph, taken in 1933, shows Mr. Aron Raucher, Philip’s mother’s brother, in the front row on the far right, as the president of this Zionist organization in Wolbrom, Poland. In 1941, the Jews living in Wolbrom were deported to Belzec, but Aron jumped from the train and escape. Later, Aron sent a picture of himself to his sister, Sarah Lea, Philip Raucher’s mother, and that photograph showed a bruise that Aron got from jumping off the train. That was the last the family heard of Aron. There are two women and six men in this photograph; three of the men are wearing a paramilitary uniform.
RG 16.06.08: Philip Raucher, Identification, 1938, 11 years old
Dated: 1938
This identification photograph was taken in 1938 when Philip Raucher was 11 years old. This photograph was taken from a streetcar pass and also for his ID for a private religious school in Bedzin where they taught Judaism and the Polish language.
RG 16.06.09: Philip Raucher, Ghetto Identification, 1940, 13 years old
Dated: 1940
This identification photograph was taken in 1940 when Philip Raucher was 13 years old. This photograph was taken for a ghetto identification card, which identifies Philip was Jewish. Eventually, this photograph was moved from Philip’s Jewish ID card, and a neighbor destroyed the actual ID.
RG 16.06.10: Philip Raucher, Factory Workers, 1942
Dated: 1942
The sons of a German man who had taken over the furniture factory from the original Jewish owner took this photograph in 1942. The factory owner’s sons were in the SS and took these photographs during the Christmas holiday to show off the factory to their friends. Philip was a laborer in this factory, which was located outside the Czeladz ghetto.
RG 16.06.11: Philip Raucher, photograph of a young female relative in Poland
Photograph of a young female relative in Poland; some Polish writing on the back.
RG 16.06.12: Philip Raucher, photograph of a female relative
Photograph of a female relative, slightly older, standing in front of a fountain. There is Polish on the back, a brief message from the woman to her beloved husband.
RG 16.06.13: Philip Raucher, Red Cross Certificate+ German Ration Card Stamp
Dated: 1945
Issued by: Red Cross, Katowice
Language: Polish (front) and German (back)
A Red Cross certificate from Katowice, Poland. Translated, the Red Cross certificate reads, “The Polish Red Cross confirms that Philip Pinkus Raucher, born 1, 2, 1927, Czeladz, Poland, numbered no. 25414, was a prisoner in camp Funfteichen from March 1944 to 1945 and is going to his home in Czeladz. Military and civilian authorities render assistance and information, Katowice, March 8, 1945.” The backside of the Red Cross certificate has a German stamp that enabled Philip to receive food rations in Munich, Germany for a limited specified time (dates illegible) in 1945.
RG 16.06.14: Philip Raucher and Sister, Postwar
Dated: 1945
A photograph of Philip Raucher and his sister, Rachela, shortly after the war. They are standing in the snow outside of Martin Bormann’s headquarters in Pullach, Germany.
RG 16.06.15: Philip Raucher, two Jewish women and their children
Dated: 1945
This photograph was taken in 1945 in a DP camp for Jews who survived the war in Russia. These are the first Jewish kids that Philip had seen in four years.
RG 16.06.16: Philip Raucher, Ration Card
Dated: 8 December 1947
Language: German
A German ration card for Philip (Pinkus) Raucher, living in Munich at the time. . This particular ration card was among the last ration cards issued by the Germans in 1947 for former concentration camp prisoners. The translation of this ration card is as follows: “Identification Card for Food Supplies for Former Concentration Camp Inmates. Residence: Schopenhauer str. 60. Concentration camp Volljude (meaning 100% Jewish). Munich, Dec. 1947).”
RG 16.06.17: Philip Raucher, postcard of the ship he took to the U.S.
Dated: 4 December 1951
A postcard of the R.M. Blatchford, the American transport ship that Philip Raucher took from the Bremerhaven port city in Germany to New York, in 1951. There were also other survivors who traveled on this ship.
RG 16.06.18: Philip Raucher, postcard of the hotel he stayed in upon arrival
Dated: 16 December 1951
A postcard of Hotel St. Francis in New York City, the hotel Philip Raucher stayed in upon arrival to the United States. Because he did not know anyone in the United States at the time, the Jewish Organization (JOINT) provided him a place to stay at this hotel with other survivors. After a week, JOINT found him a job in Akron, Ohio and then moved to Cleveland Ohio for five years before he moved to Los Angeles, California.
RG-16.06.19: Philip Raucher, Postcard (2009)
Dated: March 2009
Language: English
A postcard from Bob to Randy about the first draft of Philip Raucher’s biographical paragraphs.
